Cons:

Though Borderlands impressed me when I saw it in the past, I never thought I'd enjoy it as much as I did when I finally got to play through the whole thing. It started off a little slow -- the first five levels or so were essentially a lengthy tutorial -- but it quickly became addictive, tapping into the same part of my psyche that gets looped into quest after quest in an MMORPG. But though I had a great time playing through Borderlands, that MMO-loving part of me felt a little disappointed about the relatively basic RPG elements involved in character customization. But despite the game's failure to push my min-maxing tendencies to their fullest, it stands as a fantastic achievement -- a lengthy, fun game with robust cooperative play, a large, developed world to explore, and a comparatively small amount of inhibitive quirks.

Borderlands combines RPG elements with a first-person shooter, resulting in something the box calls a "Role-Playing Shooter." What this translates to in English is an FPS with classes, limited character customization, random loot drops, quests, and class-based skill trees. The biggest choice you have to make is what class to play, choosing from a Soldier (big guns guy), Beserker (melee/guns guy), Siren (ninja assassin woman), and Hunter (sniper). Once you make that decision you fight enemies and undertake quests in order to level up, which allows you to spend points in your skill trees, unlocking your character's active ability and a host of passive ones.

Beyond the skill tree, the only RPG-style stats you need concern yourself with are those found on your character's guns, shields, grenade mods, and class mods, which affect your ability to inflict/withstand damage, and sometimes add bonuses to your skill tree (important considerations, depending on whether you put points into abilities that make your character better at soloing or playing in groups). The loot used to modify your stats is mostly randomly generated -- though certain bosses always drop their special weapon -- which makes each encounter pretty exciting, as you never know what you'll get. But while it's a lot of fun to constantly find new gear, I found myself wishing for more ways to individualize my character. Finding an awesome weapon is gratifying, but I really would have dug more appearance-altering equipment. I never noticed it that much, but playing the online co-op mode made me realize that all Soldiers look pretty much the same as mine. Surely other RPG fans can identify with my need to geek out about my avatar's appearance.

Gear gripes aside, I really enjoyed the RPG-lite qualities of Borderlands; the team at Gearbox really nailed the game's quest system. Each mission inevitably leads to others, and before I knew it my quest log was filled with numerous tasks. Granted, most of the quests are quite similar in theme (kill X amount of Y; find such-and-such item), but because the combat is so well-done, and because the random loot system kept me knee-deep in progressively better items, doing all of them never ceased to be fun. Not everyone loves that sort of game -- as a World of Warcraft player, I know it's easy to get overwhelmed when you build up such a large to-do list -- but fortunately, all quests outside the main story are optional, and really just serve to give loot-crazy gamers like myself an abundance of barely different guns to fuss over.

While Borderlands nails the RPG-style quest and loot aspects, it doesn't do nearly as well with the narrative. The game's world of Pandora feels like a believable place, and the various denizens you meet throughout your journey have some pretty witty things to say. But the story's forgettable, and the character you play never develops any real personality. Thankfully, paying close attention to the story isn't mandatory, as objective markers almost always guide you very clearly to the next goal, allowing you to focus on the task at hand and not sit through hours of dialogue and lackluster storytelling. The absence of a clever, crafted story is a bummer; it's the one area where Borderlands really falls short, but at least you don't have to sit through lengthy cut-scenes or unskippable dialogue during subsequent play-throughs (that is, if you choose to play through the game again and level up your character some more).

Story isn't Borderlands' only weakness: Besides random environmental anomalies that you'll run into with your car or perhaps even get stuck on with your avatar (they're fortunately few and far between, especially considering the size of the world), it soon becomes obvious that the game's AI is pretty damn stupid. Most enemy-training seminars must have boiled down to "pick up gun, run at player or occasionally take cover, and attack until destroyed." Despite predictable AI, the combat and challenges are still enjoyable -- the game throws enough baddies at you to insure that you have to use your skills to survive. Most of the time I find the "throw more crap at the player" tactic pretty cheap, but in Borderlands it usually works. It probably helps that every dead body means a chance for more all-important loot.

You'll likely hear an abundance of other reviewers touting the four-player co-op mode as the game's best feature, and it's just one more piece of what makes Borderlands a surprisingly fun affair. Playing with friends often leads to some hilarious moments, but I vastly preferred playing solo, as the slower-paced single-player game allowed me to thoroughly consider each loot drop. The accessible nature of Borderlands -- with its relatively non-punitive deaths, constant checkpoints, and convenient fast-travel systems -- makes it a fantastic game for introducing FPS fans to some basic RPG tropes. And, most importantly, the killing and looting never ceases to be fun.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The final retail version of Borderlands suffers from myriad multiplayer issues, which you can read about here. This was not the case in the near-final review code we received; we will be monitoring the situation over the next several days and responding accordingly, if need be.